Warriors
by costallee
Summary: After Mount Weather, Clarke realizes that the 100 can't possibly live with the people from the Ark. This is just a short plot bunny inspired by the song Warriors by Imagine Dragons.


**This idea just hit me and i went with it! It's rough but I love these characters and I just couldn't resist. I'll write something with more fluff another time. :) **

**I very obviously do not own these characters. They are not mine, and while I wish they were they just straight up aren't. **

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><p>When she was young, Clarke would dream of a better world. One where the different classes, the privileged and not so privileged, did not exist. One where people looked out for and cared for each other. Where speaking out or stealing a small bit of food wouldn't get you killed.<p>

But they were just dreams.

She was meant to be a part of the transitional generation, yet here she stood. On earth, basking in the warmth of the sun and the feel of the wind on her face.

She shouldn't be out here alone. Her mom, no… "the chancellor" she corrected, would be pissed... if she noticed.

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><p>When she walked back into camp, past the electric fences and armed guards, Bellamy's frown was the first thing to greet her.<p>

"Princess. Enjoy your walk?" It was meant to be a greeting, or it had been in the past. There was a time when the word held warmth. When him saying "Princess" sounded like a caress, not a curse.

She looked past him to what remained of the one hundred. They had rescued their small band of friends from Mount Weather nearly a week ago, but they still looked weak and pale. Jasper more than the others.

Bone marrow had not cured the mountain men, but that didn't keep the "doctor" from experimenting on her friends. It had seemed like a success at first, which led to more experiments. The positive effects unfortunately disappeared after a few days. The people of Mount Weather weren't prepared. Those who had received treatment and gone to the surface died suddenly. Those who stayed behind were now left with no hope of a permanent cure.

The alliance of grounders and ark dwellers invaded Mount Weather. They swarmed it like ants, looking for any crack into the mountain. They found an opening, and, in the process breaking in, brought with them a wave of radiation. Only the 100 and grounder prisoners survived.

These teenagers before Clarke were not the brave warriors she had come to know and love. They were kids who had experience hope, and freedom, only to have it stripped from them again and again. They were technically safe in this camp, but they weren't free. Not like they had been at the drop ship.

She glanced back at Bellamy. He glared down at her, his eyes conflicted, stuck between blaming her for their situation and begging her to find a solution.

She knew what she had to do, had always known really, but she had hoped there would be another way. Seeing the hundred with the people from the Ark had only confirmed it for her. Watching them try to fit themselves back into the broken society, into the different social constructs and strict rules, had broken her heart.

With a clench of her jaw she gathered her resolution, straightened, and gripped Bellamy's shirt.

"Follow me."

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><p>She stood frozen outside her mother's door. She could feel his eyes on her, full of questions she'd rather not answer and the slightest glimmer of hope, but she didn't acknowledge it. There was no fear in her, no nervousness. She would fix this. She had to.<p>

She turned to him, her rock. "Don't turn away now Bellamy." Her blue eyes pleaded with him, begging him for support, but her voice did not quiver.

Together, the two leaders of the one hundred walked into what remained of the Ark.

Her mother stood around a table, a war table she thought, deep in conversation with Jaha and the grounder leader. Abby paused when she saw her daughter, "Clarke-" she started, but the look on Clarke's face cut her short.

"Please excuse me, this will take but a moment."

Jaha stood in protest, but her mother stopped him with one hand and a look that Clarke knew well.

"Alright Clarke, what is it." Her mother asked once they were alone.

"We're leaving." It was a statement, not a question. Not a request.

"What? Clarke what are you talking about?"

"The one hundred, or what's left of us. They can't stay here Mom, it's killing them."

Abby tried her best not to roll her eyes, but failed.

"You can't just leave Clarke. These are your people - we are your people!"

"No, you aren't." Bellamy stared at Clarke, his eyes wide.

"The one hundred are my people now. You all, the people on the Ark, the council - you stopped being my people the moment you sent me to the ground to die."

"We sent you to live! I wanted to give you your best chance!"

"No mom, you - or Jaha at least - wanted to give yourselves your best chance. This was a Hail Mary, a freaking lab experiment! But we survived mom, we worked shit out!" She looked to Bellamy for support.

"Ms Griffin, we _lived_ down here. We… we could thrive if given the chance."

He put a hand on Clarke's shoulder in support, and she smiled up at him gratefully.

"I won't let you just leave Clarke. It's dangerous out there! You're my daughter, I just got you back. This is ridiculous, insane-"

"What are you going to do mom?" her daughter glared at her, her eyes as cold as ice. "Lock us up like they did on the Ark? Float us for thinking for ourselves? Keep us prisoner like the Mountain Men did?" Her voice was cold, steady. She spoke without anger, just logic.

"You can't keep us here, you can't take away our freedom. We refuse to live by the exodus charter. It's ridiculous and outdated. The laws don't make sense, and after what we've experienced you really expect us to just fall back in line? No. We're leaving whether you like it or not. Your only real decision is whether you let us go, or force us to run away."

Abby fumed. This wasn't right, it felt wrong! "I am the chancellor!"

"Well we don't care! We found a leader down here-"

"Leaders" Bellamy corrected, and squeezed her shoulder in support.

"Leaders." She agreed, "Look, you're making a peace treaty with the grounders already, the Mountain Men aren't an issue anymore, and we already know more about the dangers on the ground than you do. We'll be fine!"

She tried to smile at her mother, but it didn't feel right. "Look," she sighed, "let me talk to Indra. I want to see if she'll let us set up our camp near the drop ship. All we want is to live in peace, to be able to set our own rules. We're not asking to cut ourselves off from the camp completely. We can share our resources and knowledge, I'll teach you about the healing plants and what we've learned, but you don't really have a choice. I just wanted to tell you."

Clarke turned then, her back to her mother, head tall, and walked out of the Ark.

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><p>Bellamy stopped her a ways away from the metal structure, his hand wrapped around her wrist.<p>

"Clarke-" he started. She turned to face him, her eyes on his hand not his face. "Thank you."

Her eyes went to his against her will, they were smiling. His eyes, those dark wonderful eyes, always gave him away. She felt her mouth twitch up almost reflexively.

"Brave Princess." He whispered reverently, his hand reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Ah, she thought, closing her eyes for a second in content. There it was. The caress. He said the words like a prayer, like a kiss, she blushed at the thought and opened her eyes. He was staring at her in open admiration, and it was blinding.

"What?" she couldn't help but ask.

"She's your mother Clarke… are you sure about this? There's no turning back."

A humorless laugh escaped her in a breath, "Are you kidding me? Have you seen Jasper? Monty? Even Octavia and Raven are struggling! We have to get them out of here."

"Besides," she looked down, "they're more my family now than anyone else."

She looked up at him through her lashes. He was looking at her, really looking at her. Studying her like she was the most confusing, beautiful puzzle he had ever come across, then he took one step forward and enveloped her in his arms.

"I promise," he whispered into her curls, "I won't let anything happen to you." He buried his face in her hair for a second and stepped back, his hands still on her shoulders.

"Come on, let's go rally the troops."

He ruffled her hair gently and walked past her towards the other teens. She turned and watched him, his broad shoulders like a shield in front of her.

"We are the warriors" she said to herself.

He turned, "What?"

She laughed, "Nothing, it's just a lyric from some old song. It just seemed fitting." She waltzed forward and wrapped her arm around his.

"We are the warriors who built this town from dust." She whispered into his ear, finishing the lyric.

"We did didn't we." He smiled down at her, his eyes soft, filled with respect and something else that she couldn't quite pinpoint.

He leaned down and kissed her gently on the top of her head. This would definitely be interesting.

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><p>Fin.<p>

Like I said, it kind of just came out of nowhere. I was listening to "Warriors" by Imagine Dragons and it just fit the 100 so perfectly in my mind. And then I had to write it. Gah I'm so obsessed with this show right now. :)


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